Kiwi teens death in UK being investigated

The loss of any young life is a tragedy. Hopefully the truth will be discovered behind Emily's death.

A 17-year-old New Zealand girl has been found dead in Britain two days after telling her friends she had received frightening calls from a stalker.

Emily Longley grew up in Auckland and attended Westlake Girls High School and Takapuna Grammar.

She had been living with a relative in Bournemouth in southern England for two years. Her body was found on Saturday morning (UK time) at her home.

Emily’s father, Mark, says she apparently died in her sleep but the cause of her death remains a mystery.

British police are speaking to a 19-year-old man and say they are urgently seeking witnesses who might have seen any suspicious behaviour.

On Thursday, she posted on her Facebook profile that she had a stalker. Friends probed further, and she wrote that she had been receiving calls from a private number and was “really scared”.

“Someone just called me and i was like whos this? and they were like you dont know me but i know everything about you. and i was like how did you get my number and he was like ill tell you when i see you and kept asking me out. so i hung up and they wont stop calling,” she wrote.

The next day, Emily posted that she was “down and out”. Twenty-four hours later, she was dead.

Dorset police said in a statement that they were investigating the unexplained death. Officers went to the house at Queenswood Ave, Bournemouth, at 9.55am (UK time).

Detective Inspector Neil Devoto, the senior investigating officer, said a 19-year-old Bournemouth man was “helping officers with their inquiries”.

“I am appealing for anyone who witnessed anything suspicious or unusual in the area either this morning or during last night, and anyone who has any information regarding this incident, to contact police urgently,” Mr Devoto said.

Friends said yesterday that her Auckland-based parents had encouraged her to go to Britain to study after she left Westlake Girls and fell in with the wrong crowd.

Emily returned to New Zealand for a visit last month, and it seemed as though she had been doing well in Bournemouth, the friends said.

After spending time with family and friends, she returned to England just last week.